A Top Chef's Guide to Looking Like a Pro in the Kitchen

"I picked up my first knife when I was five," Kristen Kish says, casually twirling a freshly sharpened chef's knife as if it couldn't chop off a finger. "I pulled it out of my parent's knife block, and I just did stuff. It came very naturally to me."

Kish is Top Chef's season 10 winner and a former chef de cuisine at Boston's Menton (she's also one of the faces of Rembrandt's latest Whitening For The Colorful #RembrandtColorful campaign). And while she "didn't really have to learn" how to handle knives, she swears those not so naturally endowed can be pros too with a little knowledge (be it through YouTube videos or a class) plus practice, practice, practice. She recommends learning with something that won't cut you like a butter knife, adding "the closer your hand is to the blade, the smaller the chances you're going to cut yourself. I know it sounds odd, but it's true!"

Here, Kish shares her knife essentials, including what kind to buy and when to replace them (spoiler: never if you take care of them.) She also teaches ELLE.com two basic cuts and a couple quick knife hacks that will forever change the way you handle your produce.

Kish has three main knives she goes to: A petty knife that doubles as her paring knife, a chef's knife ("about 7 inches or so in length. And this is good because, you know, most average size vegetables, it's going to cover the length of cutting them in half"); and a slicer for filleting fish and dicing fine herbs. Pay $100 to $120 for them, a "middle of the road [price range] as opposed to getting something for like, $20, and you go to cut something and it cracks in half."

Kish likes Japanese knives for their thinner blade. "The only downfall that a lot of home cooks that I've talked to find in them is when it comes to the winter and harder vegetables, their knives dull a little bit quicker and then they don't know how to sharpen them back, but they're much more delicate."

The knives "should last you forever if you take care of them," Kish notes. "Don't put them in the dishwasher (with the jetting water and dish detergent, it can mess up the angle of the blade), don't soak them in soap (since soap is acidic and can eat away at the metal), dry them off, sharpen them when they need to be sharpened, and just put the care into it." You should sharpen knives more in the winter "as you get into the squashes' [tougher skins]."

Sharpen knives with a wet stone, not the honing rod in your knife set. "A lot of home cooks think this sharpens your knife, really, once you get past the ability to hone your knife, you're just gonna dull it even further."

A wet stone with a middle-of-the-road grit number (between 1000 and 1400) is best. Soak the stone for 10 minutes—"until all the bubbles dissipate"—and then find a 12-15 degree angle. "Apply the same amount of pressure, keep the same angle while moving your knife back and forth using the entire stone so you don't get divots in [it.]"

"[Use] a 45-degree angle for this specific cut. I always start at the skinny end of the carrot, about an inch in—make that first cut. Then you're gonna roll a quarter turn away from you, and do the same angle, same distance apart. And you just keep doing that all the way up the carrot. Think 'rolling.' Roll and cut, roll and cut."

Best for…stews. "Cutting them evenly and in large enough pieces like this will ensure that they just don't disintegrate into whatever you're making."

The Julienne:

Stephania Stanley

Photo: Stephania Stanley

"A julienne is the most standard type of cut. It's technically one cut—you're just taking the natural shape of a vegetable and just cutting it into strips. What I like to do when I'm julienning something, especially something like a bell pepper, is take it and then kind of flatten it out. Take off this inner part, because this is all watery and fillet it. It looks cleaner."

Best for…stir frys. "Something that cooks relatively quick because I cut them so small. You can mess around with the different sizes and shapes."

For round fruits and vegetables: "When you have something that rolls, that can get a little dangerous." Cut off an end to create a flat surface "so then you have something stable. When you dice, it's always important to go into planks. From planks, you do sticks or batons. And then from your baton, you can go into a cube."

Stephania Stanley

A hand towel acts as an important safety barrier. Photo: Stephania Stanley

For squashes: Find the point that feels most stable and cut through the squash using a towel. "It's very important. If your hand does slide, you have something there to protect it. The key is not to go just straight down." Treat it like a see-saw, Kish says.

Stephania Stanley

A suprême cut. Photo: Stephania Stanley

For citrus: To avoid seeds, "cut off-center and [go] around. What you're doing is exposing that first layer of seeds, so now you're not digging two layers of seeds in." Do a suprême cut by peeling the citrus and then "find[ing] the membrane, go on either side. Then you don't have any of that pith, which can get a little bitter."

Stephania Stanley

Fine mincing garlic. Photo: Stephania Stanley

For garlic: "Treat it like an onion. You cut in and then down and then across. Now you have these little squares of garlic." The cut's a bit difficult so if you're a novice, Kish suggests investing in a good microplane and grating it. (Just cutting garlic creates large pieces that won't "melt into whatever you're doing.")

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